IN THE AIR — Catholic Central’s Camden Bradley lets a jumper go over Strasburg’s Brody Baughman during Friday’s Division VII, East District tournament game inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium. - Andrew Grimm

Leading by just seven at halftime of Friday night’s tournament opener against Strasburg, Catholic Central scored more points in the third quarter than it had in the entire first half on the way to pulling away for a decisive 57-27 decision.

Holding a 19-12 lead through the first two quarter, the Crusaders scored 21 in the third quarter and out-paced the Tigers 38-15 in the second half.

“I just think we helped the guys refocus, a lot of it was just settling down more than any big adjustments,” Central head coach Don Ogden said of the turnaround in the second half. “I thought we were playing really good defense in the first half and we took a look at what offenses we thought would work best based on what we saw from Strasburg’s defense. We just went out and kept plugging. It’s nice to have a senior team because they just keep plugging and stay focused.

“We got a bit more confident (in the second half) and got to playing a little bit more downhill. We got hot and the big thing was we started seeing the floor better and finding the open guy so they could hit a shot.”

ON THE MOVE — Catholic Central’s Benji Rook drives toward the hoop with the ball past Strasburg’s Cody Chewning during Friday’s tournament game. - Andrew Grimm

As the shots started to fall, the more the crowd packed into the Mickey Barber Gymnasium got going.

“It was a beautiful atmosphere in here for a tournament game,” Ogden said. “Our student section was excellent, the fans were great. We couldn’t ask for much more.”

“That’s a heck of a team, Strasburg has a strong tradition and they have some great players.”

Senior Benji Rook netted a game-high 18 points for Central, while freshman Rahim Mitchell tallied 11.

Central, the top seed in the Division VII East District bracket, advances to meet Frontier Wednesday night at a site to be determined in the district semis. The No. 3 seed Cougars topped Bridgeport in their tourney match up Friday night.

That game will be played Wednesday night at a neutral site to be announced over the weekend.

OHSAA Division VII

East District Tournament

Quarterfinals at Catholic Central High School

No. 1 Catholic Central 57, No. 4 Strasburg 27

S 6-6-11-4 – 27

CC 7-12-21-17 – 57

STRASBURG (12-10):Becker 2 0-0 4; Thomas 3 2-2 10; Chewning 0 2-2 2; Edwards 0 2-4 2; Moore 3 3-4 9; Bonifant 0 0-0 0; Gopp 0 0-0 0; Pryor 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 8, 9-12; 27.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (20-3): Rook 7 3-6 18; Mitchell 2 7-8 11; Mihalyo 2 0-0 4; Pergi 4 1-3 9; Rohde 0 7-8 7; Bradley 4 0-1 8; Bier 0 0-0 0; Krupp 0 0-0 0; McInnis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19, 18-26; 57.

3-POINT GOALS: Strasburg 2 (Baughman 2); Catholic Central 1 (Rook).